Does intended major have bearing on admissions chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Swarthmore College
1

<p>Possibly an obvious question that I might be overthinking, but I felt I might as well ask...</p>

<p>So for a while now I have been telling colleges (especially Swarthmore) that I am most interested in engineering. However, as I am evaluating which classes I enjoy the most, I am realizing that I find a couple of other majors very interesting as well, and in fact I am better at those classes than science. So I am asking whether I should put as my intended major engineering, which is still a definite possibility, another major which I am interested in but haven't been telling colleges about (mainly history and languages), undecided, or am I reading way too much into something that doesn't matter that much? I mean, do colleges pay much attention to intended major, or do they assume as a liberal arts college that it is likely to change and not be accurate?</p>

2

<p>I really don’t think it matters. If you get admitted, though, during orientation you’re assigned a first-year adviser, based on what you put down as a potential major. I don’t think it affects whether you get in or not, especially since, as you’ve said, it’s possible that you’ll change your mind.</p>

3

<p>I don’t think intended major has any weight in the admissions process except in the rare circumstance where it might support an obvious narrative about some passionate interest. Adcoms know that most students will change their minds five or six times between high school and declaring a major at the end of sophmore year.</p>

4

<p>i think engineering is the one major that does matter in admissions if i’m recalling what bock said correctly.</p>